School board agrees to delay penny sales tax referendum

Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education agrees that more time is needed to set funding priorities.

Posted: Wednesday, October 19, 2005

The Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education slowed its E-SPLOST accelerator Wednesday on advice from Superintendent Thomas Lockamy.

Lockamy told the board that too many questions remained unanswered to pursue a March referendum on the penny sales tax increase. He recommended the board shoot for a summer or fall countywide vote so the administration can give the board additional information on facility needs and both parties can field more community input.

Before making his recommendation, Lockamy outlined some of the issues the administration and board need to address as they decide how to spend the estimated $292 million the tax increase would generate for maintenance and construction.

"Do we renovate (facilities) or do we replace as new? Do we build new schools, and if so where do we build new schools?" Lockamy asked. "If the county is growing, what is growing? Who are the families that are moving into the county? Where is the growth coming from? And what does that growth look like?"

As the district plans for anticipated population growth, Lockamy said the board and administration also need to look more deeply at demographics while also discussing the types of schools that are needed, the size those schools should be, where property is available, whether new attendance zones are needed and how technology should be used.

He said the board would ultimately set the priorities for spending E-SPLOST revenues and that it will need to decide which projects the district must complete, which it should complete and which it could complete.

"With fuel costs and material costs going up, I'm not sure we'll ever get to the could," he said. "We'll get to the must and part of the should."

Board members were quick to endorse Lockamy's recommendation. "I concur," board President Hugh Golson told Lockamy. "We have a lot of loose ends out there on this subject ... As we know this plan is not etched in stone."

Lori Brady also supported postponing a vote to allow for more discussion. "I think it's a wise decision," she said.

Lockamy said he was hesitant about a March vote from the start and shared his reservations with board members and Chief Operations Officer George Bowen, who proposed a springtime referendum at the board's Oct. 5 board meeting.

He said while board members' reactions varied, they and Bowen ultimately agreed a postponement was the best course. Board members Greg Sapp and Susu Cox, who'd previously said they wanted more details on E-SPLOST, were the easiest to convince, Lockamy said.

A meeting earlier this week with a group of teachers, administrators, business and community leaders further encouraged Lockamy a delay was needed, he said.

The superintendent recommended the board allow the administration to make a presentation on demographic projections at the Nov. 2 board meeting and devote future workshops to discussing E-SPLOST. He also called for community forums across the county with an eye toward March school board votes to officially start the E-SPLOST campaign.

Lockamy also agreed with board member David Wegmann that the district will have to address some growth-related needs such as overcrowding before the E-SPLOST referendum.